…

“What is this?”

Looking around, Rikai saw nothing but a sheet of white fog.

“You are the friend of the Jinsei no Hogo, correct?”

Rikai spun around and saw the silhouette of a man.

“RIKAI!!”

A purple axe shattered the knife that Rikai held moments before she would’ve stabbed herself.

“S-Shitto…”

Rikai collapsed as she continued to bleed. Shitto rolled Rikai onto her back. Rikai was breathing heavily and blood constantly spilled onto the ground. Shitto’s arms tensed up as he stood up to face Shippai.

“You bitch… what do you think you’re doing?! We’re a team!”

Shippai’s face was expressionless.

“Shitto, from the very beginning I told Posche I wasn’t your guys’ friend or teammate. You should’ve saw the look on his face when I killed him!”

Shitto’s eyes contracted and his legs began to quiver.

“You… killed him?”

Shippai continued to laugh hysterically.

“At first, he was shocked, but then when he remembered what I said, he allowed me to finish him! He was worthless!”

Shitto’s eyes twitched as he began to remember the fight.

“No.. no, they broke through the glass! We barely made it out!”

Shippai stopped laughing.

“What’re you on about?”

“We were all watching Yami! He killed them all!”

“Did you hit your head? How do you think you ended up in the hospital afterwards?”

Shitto saw his sword cutting through people. Then as he laid on the hospital bed, Rikai walked away. He clawed at his face as snot and tears began to ooze.

“No… I killed them! I killed my family! Yami didn’t do anything…”

Shippai walked up to Shitto.

“You really aren’t part of this anymore. Be gone.”

Shippai drove the knife in her hand towards Shitto’s stomach. Shitto grabbed her arm. HIs eyes became determined.

“I made a promise to my best friend, and I sure as hell won’t let him down now when it matters most!”

Shippai swung at him with the other hand, slicing his cheek.

“You sure talk big, but you don’t understand how far behind you are!”

As Shippai continued to deal blow after blow, Shitto consistently blocked each attack. After receiving a few cuts to his arms and legs, Shitto sent life essence into all of his limbs, launching an all out offensive. As he sent a flurry of axe swings, Shippai continued to block them. Her grin grew wider.

“She’s too fast… I need to give it everything I got right now!”

Shitto sent one more axe swing downward, forcing Shippai to make a temporary retreat. Shitto’s breathing became shallow as life essence crawled down his other hand, forming a sword. With a scream, Shitto rushed Shippai. His speed increased tenfold. As Shippai attempted to block an attack, the life essence that formed his sword hardened, shattering the blade that Shippai held. As Shitto finished his onslaught, his blades crashed into the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust.

“I used up all of my life essence… No one could’ve survived that…”

Shippai’s hand reached through the dust, grabbing Shitto’s collar. He hurriedly swung at it with his sword, but she withdrew her hand. Before Shitto even stopped his first attack, she was already behind him.

“Her speed! She was holding back that much?!”

As she withdrew a knife from a void, Shitto prepared for his death.

“Shitto! Jump!”

Shitto followed the voice’s instructions. As he jumped, however, he flew higher than the roof of Rikai’s house.

“My Phys. Mods are enhanced!”

As he began to fall back down, he saw Yami. Shippai smiled.

“How nice of you to join us, Yami. We were just saying our goodbyes.”

“Ayako.”

Shippai’s smile faded, and her pupils contracted.

“What did you just say?”

“Your name is Ayako, not Shippai.”

Shippai’s eyes twitched in fury.

“Don’t call me by that name!”

Shippai lunged at Yami, who blocked her attack with his arm. Yami gripped his knife, and it grew as he slashed at Shippai, who avoided the attack by jumping into the house.

“Who’d have thought your body and soul would both be reconnected!”

“I’m Shippai!”

Shippai threw three knives at Yami, but as he blocked them, they exploded, sending Yami backwards into the fence.

“Ayako, you bitch!”

As the cloud from the explosion dissipated, it was clear that Shippai had left. Shitto slid off of the roof and pointed into the house.

“C’mon! We need to find her!”

“Where’s Rikai?!”

Shitto pointed to the ground where Rikai laid. Her breathing was irregular and spaced apart.

“What the hell happened?!”

“She fucking stabbed her! Then she was telling Rikai that she should become a Pubiàn Fanxiang, and Rikai was trying to stab herself!”

Yami picked up Rikai.

“Did she do it?!”

“No, I think I stopped her in time… Hey, where are you going?!”

“I’m taking her to a friend! She’s the only one that can help her!”

Yami walked over the corpse of his brother, then kicked in a door in Rikai’s house, opening into Make’s house.

“Make! Are you here?!”

The vacant house echoed Yami’s shouts. Yami nodded towards a table.

“Hey, make space!”

Shitto cleared off the table, after which Yami set Rikai down.

“Where is it…”

Yami began to rummage through drawers until he found a large, green book. Opening it, he searched around until he found some strange purple leaves, which he handed to Shitto.

“Crush them and make a tea out of them.”

As Shitto made the tea, Yami went to work on Rikai’s body, rubbing a strange yellow paste on some damaged organs, then stitching her skin.

“Is that tea done?!”

Shitto hurriedly gave Yami the tea, who tilted Rikai’s head up and slowly poured the warm liquid into her mouth, which she graciously swallowed. With each gulp, more color returned to her face. Once the tea was finished, Yami gently laid Rikai’s head back down, then wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

“Watch her, and make sure she’s alright. I have to find Make.”

“O-Okay…”

Yami bolted out of the door towards Sylphera.

About 20 minutes later, the door swung wide open. Make entered the room, and behind her was Yami.

“This is the girl you were talking about?”

“Yes.”

Shitto walked away from the table the Rikai laid on, allowing Make to properly assess the situation.

“Nice thinking with the tea, that should’ve replaced any blood lost, but why did you only glue her organs together?”

“I couldn’t think of anything else…”

“They’ll be separated soon. Cut some stalk off of the orange plant behind the house and powder it.”

Yami followed Make’s orders and left the house. Working fiercely, Make opened Rikai’s wound and assured that was all that needed to be done. She looked at Shitto, who was standing in the corner of the room.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Make!”

“I’m Shitto…”

“We’ll properly introduce ourselves once she is taken care of.”

Yami handed Make the powder.

“Thanks. Go rest for now, I’m sure you need it.”

“No, I’ll stay in case you need something else.”

Make looked at Yami for a moment, then shook her head and continued the operation. After applying the powder and stitching Rikai up again, Make washed her hands and grabbed a wet washcloth. After a moment, she waved her hand.

“I’m going to wash her, so you two leave.”

Yami and Shitto walked towards the river behind Make’s house. Looking at it, Yami had shivers sent down his spine.

“So this is where this body was born…”

“Yami, my memories came back.”

Yami continued to look at the river, which peacefully flowed.

“I’m sorry for what I said to you, but why did you do that?”

“Do what? Put all the blame on myself?”

“Yes!”

Yami turned to face Shitto.

“What do you want me to say?”

“Yami, we’re brothers. Don’t pull that shit again.”

“Shitto, once Rikai’s better, I need you two to go anywhere but back there. Until I deal with Shippai, it’ll be too dangerous for you guys.”

“What did I just say?!”

“This isn’t a matter of our bond, it’s a matter of she’s too strong for the two of us! Besides, we don’t have a teacher now.”

Shitto looked Yami in the eyes.

“Yami, Shippai was the one.”

”What?”

“Shippai killed Posche.”

Yami closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“I had figured out that much once I realized she was using his Sirushi Inochi.”

“Wait… now that I think about it, how is she able to do that?”

“Long story short, she’s like me, but flipped around. Instead of saving people, she kills them. If she kills someone, she instantly gains mastery over their Sirushi Inochi, hence her large arsenal.”

“That’s crazy! How are we supposed to beat that?!”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out!” Yami’s scream tore through the air.

Make approached Shitto and Yami.

“I’m done. If you guys could move her into my bed upstairs, that’d be a big help.”

“She can stay in mine.”

After carrying Rikai up the stairs and into the bedroom that Yami slept in, they shut the door behind them. Make pointed to a door down the hall.

“Shitto, you can sleep in there.”

“Alright, I’m going to bed. See you guys in the morning!”

Make turned to Yami.

“Yami, where do you plan on sleeping?”

“Make, I need to talk with you.”

Make raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, c’mon.”

Yami followed Make into her room, shutting the door. Make sat on her bed, and Yami pulled up a chair from her desk.

“Is it okay if we talk about your little brother?”

Make closed her eyes and smiled.

“He was so sweet. If it weren’t for him, I don’t think I’d be here.”

Yami pulled a picture off of her desk.

“Is this him?”

Make gently took the picture from Yami’s hand and caressed the picture with one hand.

“He’s so adorable, isn’t he?”

“Make, where did you meet Jitsubutsu?”

“Shortly after my brother passed, he stopped by the house, offering his condolences and helped to ease the pain.”

Yami reached out his hand and held Make’s.

“Make, Jitsubutsu was Kyukyoku.”

Make’s eyes widened.

“W-What do you mean?”

“When Kyukyoku gave his life to save yours, his soul was ripped from his body and placed into someone who had recently died. He wasn’t the first Jinsei no Hogo, he was your little brother.”

Tears dripped onto Yami’s hands as Make sniffled.

“Where..sniff...is he?”

“He… was killed…”

Make began to sob, wrapping her arms around Yami, who let her cry into his shoulder.